Yeah it was completely unintentional. The last time they see each other (or last time we see them with each other at least) they give each other a big bear hug and Koll thinks something along the lines of, "you could tell the two men cared deeply for each other."
Not to mention the one time we finally see Yarvi's facade crack under pressure is when Skara threatens to tell Thorn about his betrayal. He shows fear for the first time since we left his POV, which suggests that angering Thorn is not an intended consequence of his actions.

I put off reading this for a while because while I enjoy the hell out of Abercrombie's writing, sometimes I can just do without so much gloom. So I was pleasantly surprised with Half a King for it's relatively happy ending, and even more surprised when I found out the rest of the trilogy was already completed!
And then I had to rush here and read what other people were saying and went and spoiled myself on several major plot points like Thorn losing to Gorm, Brand dying, and Yarvi being the traitor.
Even so, I enjoyed the hell out of this series. So much so that I read Half a War in one day.
I love the whole "Vikings in a post-apocalyptic world" setting. The climax of a couple old women and a crippled man taking out an army of 10,000 with freaking bazookas and assault rifles made me chuckle.
I think the elf-technology we do see is supposed to be similar to what we have now but more advanced, so we get descriptions of weapons and tech that looks familiar but aren't the same as we have today.

Fitz and Kettricken have great chemistry together, but it's hard to say whether that's from romantic possibilities or that they've been through so much together. Kettricken owes everything she has to Fitz and Fitz has relied on Kettricken to be a source of strength for him at various times when he finally collapsed under the weight of his own demands on himself.
I don't want them to get together though, because unless Fitz dies at the end of the next book, he'll outlive her by far thanks to that skill healing and see yet another love die by his side.
oooh
[spoiler]
I hadn't considered Verity-as-dragon on a rampage but with his skilling to Fitz after seeing him (not just when he was right there but after) means he's more awake and aware than we'd been led to believe - though not by much.
Nighteyes - I'm just totally pulling this out of my butt - I think part of him was somehow kept alive by the years of contact with the Skill combined with Fitz and the Fool becoming one during their trip through the Skill pillar. Because of that, a residue of Nighteyes remained and somehow attached itself to Bee since she was the product of both of them. Though now that I'm thinking of it, their "merging" happened after Nighteyes died so that goes on the window.
[/spoiler]

Ahh okay, yeah, I must have read through that book too fast because that only slightly rings a bell for me. Going to definitely need to give them a reread before the next book.
Oh yes, another part where someone mysteriously started cutting onions around me while I read.
Indeed. But if he wasn't such a dumbass the plot of these books would go something like, "Fitz has a dilemma. Fitz discusses his dilemma with his powerful family. Dilemma is solved, Fitz also kicks someone's ass. The End."

I liked the inclusion of that too. Though
[spoiler]Was that one Elderling kid always such a dick? I can't even remember his name right now - Rapsomething - but I swear he was like the joking around, everyone's friend type of kid in the books and suddenly he's just a no-nonsense, off with their heads type. I wonder if I just read Blood of Dragons too fast to remember what happened to him or we'll get some backstory as to what happened to him.
Anyway, yes, I loved heading back to the Elderling city (geez, I can't remember names for the life of me today) and seeing some old characters. It was a nice surprise after seeing all the other old characters back in Buck Keep[/spoiler]

This was one of my favorite parts. I don't recall if I've ever dropped a few tears of joy from reading something but that scene got me.
This is a big problem with the books, but one I've almost become used to. So many issues would be solved in these books if Fitz would just ask for help or share basic information with his freaking family. Although I guess having Chade and Burrich - two closed-mouthed keep-it-to-yourself types being his mentor and father figures don't help with that.

This show is absolutely brilliant. I love any television show that can have me giggling like an idiot one minute and 10 minutes later I'm left sitting there just sort of shocked from how dark shit just got. I can't decide which I love more, the end to this episode with Rick building his little machine or the end of Love Potion #9. The music in both of those episodes (which is what I linked to) really helps sell those scenes too.
I wish there were more than 12 episodes a season because this fills the hole that Community has left in my heart.

I was blown away when I read that the Stormlight Archives are planned to be 10 books. Even with the planned time jump (apparently that little girl who was in a few interlude chapters will be a main character in the 6-10 part of the series) that just sounds nuts to me. And I can't wait to read them.

I thought so. It's a big book so there are some slow parts but I thought it really kicked the story into even higher gear. I was thirsting for more by the end so badly that I immediately went out and read all of his other books.